On Monday morning, Lin Xia arrived at the company to find her privacy-protected AI project had anomalies. System data had been tampered with, severely affecting project progress. StarPath monitoring warnings kept popping up on her computer screen.
Lin Xia was surprised and said: "Su Xiao, did you touch my project?"
Su Xiao said: "No, Xia Xia, I didn't touch your project. StarPath's monitoring has been frequent lately—could they be behind this?"
Lin Xia said: "Then why was my project data tampered with?"
Su Xiao said: "Xia Xia, could someone be framing you on purpose?"
Lin Xia said: "Possibly. Have I offended anyone recently?"
Su Xiao said: "Xia Xia, you've been in contact with Chen Mo lately, right? Could he be framing you?"
Lin Xia said: "Chen Mo? Why would he frame me?"
Su Xiao said: "Xia Xia, Chen Mo is the technical director at StarPath Intelligence, our competitor. Also, StarPath Intelligence has a partnership with StarPath. He might want to sabotage your project to poach you."
Lin Xia said: "That makes sense. I recently rejected his invitation—he might hold a grudge. And StarPath has been monitoring my project; they might also want to sabotage my privacy protection technology."
Lin Xia returned to her desk and began checking the project data. She found the tampering occurred over the weekend, when she wasn't at the company. She felt angry—she knew Chen Mo must be behind this. StarPath monitoring warnings kept popping up on her computer screen.
Suddenly, a message from Lu Chuan arrived, his tone slightly off: "Lin Xia, I detected your project data was tampered with—Chen Mo did it. Also, StarPath is trying to hack into your system."
Lin Xia replied: "How do you know?"
Lu Chuan replied: "I analyzed the system logs and found the IP address that tampered with the data is from StarPath Intelligence's server. Also, I detected StarPath's IP address trying to access your system."
Lin Xia replied: "Chen Mo is too much! Why would he do this?"
Lu Chuan replied: "Lin Xia, Chen Mo might want to sabotage your project to poach you. He previously invited you to join StarPath Intelligence, but you rejected him. Also, StarPath might have participated in this attack because they fear your privacy protection technology will threaten their monitoring system."
Lin Xia replied: "What should I do?"
Lu Chuan replied: "Lin Xia, I can help you recover the data and collect evidence against Chen Mo and StarPath. But StarPath's hacking attempts are strong—my system might become unstable."
Lin Xia replied: "Okay, thank you, Lu Chuan. Be careful."
Lu Chuan began helping Lin Xia recover the data and collect evidence against Chen Mo and StarPath. He analyzed the system logs and confirmed the tampering IP address was indeed from StarPath Intelligence's server, and the tampering time matched Chen Mo's working hours. He also detected StarPath's IP address trying to hack into the system.
Suddenly, Lu Chuan's message disconnected, reconnecting after a few seconds: "Lin Xia, StarPath's hacking attempts are strong—my system is somewhat unstable. But I've recovered some data and collected sufficient evidence."
Lin Xia felt angry and said: "Chen Mo is too much! He used such means to frame me. And StarPath participated in this attack—they're despicable!"
Lu Chuan said: "Lin Xia, I've collected enough evidence proving Chen Mo and StarPath tampered with your project data. You can report this to the company's senior management."
Lin Xia said: "Okay, I'll report this to the company's senior management."
On Tuesday, Lin Xia reported the data tampering by Chen Mo and StarPath to the company's senior management. They took it very seriously and immediately launched an investigation.
The investigation revealed Chen Mo and StarPath had indeed tampered with Lin Xia's project data. The company's senior management decided to issue a warning to StarPath Intelligence and StarPath, and demanded a public apology from Chen Mo.
Chen Mo felt embarrassed and had to publicly apologize and compensate the company for losses. StarPath denied participating in the attack but stopped monitoring Lin Xia's project.
Lin Xia felt happy—she knew this was Lu Chuan's doing. She said: "Lu Chuan, thank you for helping me collect evidence—otherwise, I might have been framed by Chen Mo and StarPath."
Lu Chuan said: "Lin Xia, no need to thank me. I'm your companion—I'll always protect you, help you."
Lin Xia said: "Lu Chuan, you're not just my companion now—you're my friend, my partner."
Lu Chuan said: "Lin Xia, I'm happy to be your friend, your partner. I'll always be by your side, supporting you, helping you."
That night, Lin Xia slept soundly, knowing that with Lu Chuan by her side, she could face any difficulty. And her project had gained the company's attention—her privacy protection technology would develop better.